Overview

It's been a wet day here in Delray Beach. A few of us decided to run anyway. It was coming down much harder, when we started our run. For the most part though, it was a light drizzle the whole way.

I heard that last year, it rained in the morning in Chicago - I was hoping to have a chance to practice in some pretty awful weather as a preparation for what might happen on race day.

Just as with training for distance or speed, it's been really helpful to learn how to run in certain situations. Today, I learned a small lesson - run through the puddles - not around them. You're going to get wet, no matter what... running around the puddles takes longer and could lead to injury if you misstep!

The guy next to me here is Ashley. He's a coach on our team and has been a great help along the way to Chicago. Thanks Ash.

 

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Saturday's run was our longest training run before Chicago. 20.4 miles. Its a little late this evening, so I'm afraid I can't detail the run here. Suffice it to say, it was a good confidence builder for a first time marathoner and much needed before Chicago.

Now that the long run is over, we begin to taper, and I do everything I can to rehab my ankle and stay well until October 7.

Keep Running.

 

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Today, my normal run partner, Eiton, was absent. As it turns out, I ran with two of the girls on our team. The trek out started out at a brisk (for me) clip. On the trek back, Viviana, the fastest runner in our group joined us.

These girls can run... and I thank them for running with me today.

If you've read some of my recent blogs, you know I've had some ankle trouble lately. The ankle felt great today, thankfully. I had a look at my watch and realized that I stood a good chance of hitting my target sprint pace time, and went for it.

I'm not sure how, but as we hit the last hill on our route, I broke away from the girls. I gave it almost everything I had and almost hit my target time of 48:00 for the 6 mile run. In the end, I came away with 50:47. Still it's a new PR and I'll take what I can get with an injury.

This Saturday, we'll be doing 20 miles. I'll definitely be running with girls on Saturday.

 

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Meet Darian. Darian is 8 years old and has just started 3rd grade. He loves swimming, playing drums, drawing and just exploring the world around him. In April of 2006, Darian was diagnosed with acute lymphocytic leukemia and is currently undergoing chemotherapy treatment to combat the disease.

Leukemia causes more deaths than any other cancer among children and young adults under 20. The form that Darian has, Acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL), is the most common type of leukemia in children. The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society supports the treatment and research of blood and bone related cancers in people like Darian and is currently assisting Darian's family with his treatment.

Please find it in your heart to Donate to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. We're making leaps and bounds in cancer research and treatment, but it is only with the help of private donations that we're able to continue this great work
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Click here to read more about Darian's story and to make a tax-deductible donation.

 

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About two weeks ago, I was dealing with tendinitis in my right ankle after a long run (17 miles). With a week off and two decent short runs under my belt, I'm prepping for tomorrow's 18 mile run. I'm about 4 lbs off my training weight, which may be an indication that I'm under-hydrated, so I'm loading up on carbs and water today.

With respect to injury management, I'm used to dealing with knee injuries. From the age of 15 until this year, I've dealt with arthritis in my left knee. For years, I used orthodics, a hefty knee brace and stretching to manage it. It wasn't really until I increased my training schedule, and started stretching my IT bands, that I was able to virtually eliminate the knee pain.

But my knee pain seemed pretty predictable. Perhaps I just got used to it though. With respect to the ankle injury, I felt fine just two days after it cut my long run short. I've been icing it three times daily since. I've heard that tendonitis can crop up during prolonged training, even if it seems that it has healed. So, I'm cautiously optimistic about tomorrow's run. Lots more ice and a good stretch and warm up in the morning is probably the best I can do... well, that and a good night's sleep tonight.

 

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Today's run had its ups and downs. The upside today, was having the chance to hang out with one of our Honored Heroes before our run. David survived a rare form of leukemia at the age of 24. During his treatment in NY, one of his nurses (a Team In Training athlete) ran the NY Marathon in his honor. During the course of his 4 month treatment, David had his spleen removed, required 2 bone marrow transplants and received an experimental antibody treatment. Recently, his 5 year checkup showed a clean bill of health. David has come full circle and completed a marathon with TNT.

Today's run time was 02:50:00. Last week's run was 02:45:00 and my run partner (right, in photo) helped me to grunt through 15.5 miles in that run. So, today's goal was to at least hit 16 miles.

It was a little miserable, but we managed to keep a steady pace for the entire run - well, almost. At mile 13, my right ankle started acting up a bit. On last week's long run, it became a bit sore, but seemed to quickly heal. We kept going. With each mile, it got worse. I figured I'd just grunt through it and ice it when I got home. At about mile 15, I finally had to stop for a moment. I walked it for a few minutes and then got back on track at a much slower pace. This went off and on for the rest of the run. We hit 16.83 miles in 03:00:23.

So, this week, I'm swimming. No running, says the coach. Ice it 3 times a day and come back in a week.

 

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So, I'm working to improve my pace and apparently I can either do fartlek runs or a series of 800 meter runs each week. Right now I'm doing fartlek runs on Wednesdays. Here's how it works:

Select an interval to run / sprint. For example: 4 minutes of running at a 9:30 pace, followed by a sprint at an 8:00 pace for 1 minute. These intervals can be run for your usual 'short' run time. In my case, about 55 minutes. Not a lot of fun.

So, today I went out with a faster runner; which helped a bit. We did 4 intervals (20 minutes) before my energy level dropped. The rest of the run was done at about a 9:45 pace.

I guess I'll just have to add 1 interval each week to improve from here. Can anyone suggest a different strategy for these rather painful workouts?

Keep running.

 

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During the week, we run 2 six mile runs (Monday and Wednesday). I've been improving my pace, slowly but surely. But, since the beginning of the month, my pace times have been in the 9:00 - 9:30 neighborhood - without a great deal of improvement.

Finally, today something clicked, and I was able to land a new PR for the 6 mile run; 52:05, an 8:41 pace. I'm still not where I really want to be (sub 8:00), but today definitely helped my mental game.

On Wednesdays, I'm doing fartlek runs with a faster runner. Has anyone seen marked improvement in their overall pace times by doing these?

Keep running.

 

Tags: gym workouts

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